Retooled bond plan fixes delegates' concerns

O
fficials haven't given up on the idea of getting the Navajo Nation Council to approve a bond to spur business development on the Navajo Reservation. Albert Damon, director of the Division for Economic Development, said Wednesday that he has another bond proposal that he would like to see go before the Council later this year and he thinks that this one will address all of the concerns that have caused previous proposals to be rejected. The idea of issuing bonds of anywhere from $100 million to $250 million has been around for decades.

Delegate's DWI charge may lead to dismissal

By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times

WINDOW ROCK - Election officials are saying that a Council delegate who pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated may have reasons to worry about his future on the Council. Duane Tsinigine, who represents Coppermine, K'aii'to, LeChee, Tonalea/Red Lake and Bodaway/Gap, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor first-offense DWI in a Gallup court after an arrest last August. He received no jail time but had to do community service, put an ignition interlock device on his vehicle and complete DWI school. New laws approved by the Navajo Nation Council last year give the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors the power to remove a sitting member of the Council if he or she no longer meets the requirements of that job. One of the requirements is that no person can have a felony conviction on their record. While Tsinigine pleaded guilty to only a misdemeanor, his conviction may come under another law on the tribal books, according to Edison Wauneka, director of the Navajo Election Administration.

advertisement

Most candidates waiting for election filing deadline

By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times

WINDOW ROCK - The latest readout of people who have gone to the election office to pick up filing papers for the upcoming election as well as those who have paid their filing fees shows that a lot of people are taking a wait-and-see attitude. While the filing of candidates is usually slow in tribal elections, the last two weeks have seen only a handful of new candidates picking up filing papers and no new candidates for president. People have until May 28 to officially file their candidacy and pay their fees ($1,500 for tribal chairman, $500 for council and $200 for other positions), and election officials said they are expecting that most will probably do it, as happened in past elections, in the last two days before the deadline.